Healthy Dogs Healthy Communities
The social relationship between humans and dogs is reflected in community acceptance and integration of dogs as important members of society, and the ways in which dogs engage in the community as individuals.
[Ch.4, Pg.34]
Did you know?
With increased social contact, reduced loneliness and improved mental and emotional wellbeing reported by people with dogs in their lives. [Ch1, pg2]
s
Gizmo – Best Friend, Happiness
Pause here to listen
To me, a healthy dog should…also be happy with their owner.
Healthy dog and human relationships look like happiness.
The physical health of the dog-human relationship is an important consideration, especially when some of the primary challenges highlighted around dogs in the Tri-communities relate to the physical safety of humans and dogs in the area
[Ch4, pg 28]
Dogs as Entertainment
“And of course, they’re also, you know, they’re my company. They’re my friends, they’re my entertainment. I mean, you know, I’ll sit – not for hours – but I’ll sit for a long time at times and just watch them, because they’re so interesting.
They’re so funny, they do the weirdest things, you know. (LLRIB_7)
Vet Med Students – Dogs as Community Members
Pause here to listen
[w]e, in the trapline, we always grew up with dogs. They’re our transportation, and they’re our pets, and they’re our warning signs too, if any danger comes around or people visiting, coming. There’s old legends too, you know, about dogs’ (LLRIB_6). So dogs played crucial roles in the traditional ways of life of the Woodland Cree.
ELDER Story: Doreen’s Dog Guardians at Mission School
If the dog-human relationship is to be optimized and repaired in communities without regular access to care, education of community members, dog owners, policy makers and animal health and welfare service providers must be prioritized so that relational health is supported at every level, between all species.
[Ch4, Pg 39]
I definitely think that it has to be part of the school curriculum at all levels, whether it be a traditional teaching from Elders, or lessons on proper pet care and the various jobs that dogs do for people. If we don’t see the value or the qualities that companion animals have and how relationships and bonds between animals can really improve and enhance the quality of humans’ lives, then attitudes towards pets won't change.
Perception of Dogs
A smart dog that they can be proud of... all that little extra stuff is going to go a long way when it comes to having a really nice dog, compared to a miserable dog that just wants to bite people–of course, he’s not feeling too well about himself
Elder Doreen
Pause here to listen
Dog companionship also has a protective effect against incarceration, substance misuse, and depression amongst street involved individuals
[Ch1, pg9]
Dogs as a Commodity/Status Symbol
Recognizing dogs as entertainment can connect people to the land and to Cree culture, whether for use as commodities of tourism, or as show dogs in traditional regalia:
Because a long time ago, like when, like say, in the 40s here, when people were coming into town, they had all their dogs dressed up. Because they come for Christmas, right. And they had all these bells so you could hear the dogs coming… the dogs had their nice little jackets, you know, like a blanket. Beaded and designs, and a belt, you know – all dollied up. They had pride in their dogs, you know what I mean? The pride in the healthy dogs coming. (LLRIB_6).
The suitability of dogs being kept outside during Saskatchewan winters depends largely on their breed characteristics, which are determined by where in the world the breed originated (Renna, 2012). One participant noted, ‘it’s very disrespectful to have animals – dogs – that aren’t natural to this environment.’
Another participant noted the unique challenge faced by small dogs in the north, especially when they are able to roam:
I’m afraid of my dog getting hit by a car because he’s so tiny and my mom loves him too much… I’m scared a bigger dog will attack him, because so many dogs wander around our place’.
In this case, the youth’s fear was not of dogs per se, but was more related to the fear of harm coming to his mother’s dog secondary to broader community challenges with how dogs are managed.
(Ch4, Pg 45)
With the wide variability in dog breeds and the correspondingly wide variation in cold weather hardiness, it stands to reason that welfare assessments and care recommendations should be individualized with these factors considered.
Dogs as Teachers
from a musher’s point of view, I would say dog's relationship with other dogs is even more important than his relationship with the owner. I think pet owners lose sight of that.
Photo Courtesy of Dan Irvine
Dogs as Emotional Support
Another commonly addressed aspect of relational health with dogs is dogs as emotional or mental health support. This extends beyond dogs that are specifically trained as therapy animals; as one youth participant noted,
[d]ogs make you feel ten times better, they don’t make your depression worse, they make it better. Dogs can’t talk, but dogs sure know what’s going on when it comes to those kinds of things’ (K.C.).
Dog Roles: Protection
Many Indigenous cultures have a teaching that wolves were the initial protectors of humans, who needed help on earth and could not survive without support (International Fund for Animal Welfare, 2018).
[Ch1., Pg.11]
Big Bear Camp
Kelsey Carlson
Pause here to listen
One of the determinants of health for the Woodland Cree appears to be the maintenance of good community relationships.
(Roberts, 2005)
This finding is reflective of kinship systems as one of the determinants of Indigenous people’s health (Reading, 2015) – an interesting concept considering animals as participants in kinship systems within many Indigenous worldviews
(Legge & Robinson, 2017).
[Ch.1, Pg.13]
At the same time, some participants were very clear that roaming dogs were not necessarily un-bonded and were often important to their humans.
[Ch4, Pg41]
Stray Safety w Jayme (Pawsitive Attitude Dog Training)
Idea That
Bad Dog Owners = Bad People
And I say anyone who lets their dog out the front door like that can be participating in that packing of dogs and, I mean, they run down the street and I see them and they’ve got collars on. I don’t know if they’re La Ronge dogs. I just call them dogs with irresponsible owners. (AR_3)
Several months ago, a fellow who is wheelchair bound contacted us about his neighbor’s dog that was chained up in the bush, several feet away from the home. And it was a husky type dog that howled all night and sounded like it was in distress. The fellow said he hadn't slept for well over a month and when he contacted us, he was at the end of his rope and told us to walk through his property and take his neighbors’ dog.
And I said, we can’t actually do that. So, we went to have a chat with the neighbors and tried to see what was the point of having this dog way out in the middle of the bush. After a few visits, they eventually decided to surrender him, because they weren’t willing to move him closer to the house and we explained to them that their neighbor was suffering.
This story clearly describes a breakdown of the dog-human bond (both for the person in the wheelchair and the dog owner), as well as strain put on relationships between humans (in this case, between the neighbours and possibly between the dog owner and NAR)
[Interview KI2, CH4 pg 37]
So where this element of social health appears on the surface to be perceptions of dogs, it is fundamentally related to perceptions of the people connected to those dogs, thus influencing not only the social health of the dog-human relationship, but also the larger health of relationships between humans in the Tri-communities and beyond.
[Ch4, pg. 54]
Identifying Dog Behaviour
[Powerpoint]